Disparity and Division

We must recognize that there is an entrenched gender gap in Japanese society. According to the gender disparity survey released by the World Bank on March 1, 2022, Japan has dropped from 80th place last year to 103rd place among 190 countries and regions in terms of overall scores in categories such as disparities in occupation, childcare and pensions. In the "Public Opinion Survey on Gender-Equal Society" conducted by the Cabinet Office in FY2019, 74.1% of respondents answered that "men are more privileged" in society as a whole, 21.2% answered "equal," and 3.1% answered "women are more privileged." When asked in which areas are the status of men and women equal, 61.2% said in school education; 45.5% said in family life; 39.7% said in laws and systems; 30.7% said at work; and 22.6% said in social norms, customs and traditions. This shows that the gender gap remains strong in the workplace and politics, and also in awareness, values and social conventions, customs and traditions. At the same time, over half of the respondents recognized gender inequality in laws and systems. This means that in order to eliminate the gender gap, it is necessary to change institutions and systems. For example, affirmative action programs (positive action to correct discrimination), in which a certain percentage of managerial positions are filled by women, are a change in institutions and systems. Creating an environment that can accommodate women's life events is linked to improving Japan's declining birthrate and aging population. If awareness, values and behavior do not change, the embedded systems may become a target of reverse discrimination. There are also a variety of other disparities in today's society, including those concerning education, income and assets, age/generation, regional differences and access to information.

Divisions can also be created by differences in ethnicity, race, religion, ideology and values. Since ancient times, people have lived in groups to support each other. This fostered loyalty to the group, and at times hostility to other groups, causing inter-group division, conflict and wars. Recently. many populist politicians have emerged, using disparity and exclusionary language and attitudes to fuel division and attack vested interests to create conflict and hatred and expand their power. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a decline in incomes, particularly in the food and beverage, lodging, and transportation industries, leading to increased income inequality. We must academically identify the reasons why disparities and divisions are entrenched in today's society and work to resolve them.

Challenging Entrenchment

In Japan, there is a strong perception—albeit a gradually weakening one—that entering a highly reputable university with a strong brand image will be a strong advantage when pursuing a job after graduation. Former students, their parents and corporate recruiters remember the difficulty of job hunting and the role university brand and reputation played at the time. These memories are not easily overcome by new information. What is most important in overcoming such entrenchment is to reconstruct fixed concepts to create new values. The creation of new values will change institutions and attitudes. For universities to continue to survive, they must continue to play a social role while creating new values for the future through research and education.

A Designated National University Corporation is a designation given to certain national universities that are expected to pursue world-class education and research activities by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). These universities aim to significantly improve their levels of education, research and innovation to create new value for the future. Our university is among the most highly regarded in Japan in terms of research capability, collaboration with society, and international cooperation. As a Designated National University, we are expected to develop world-class education and research activities that rank among the world's leading universities. As mentioned above, our Fourth Mid-term Goals and Plans are based on what we have written in our Conceptual Plan for becoming a Designated National University Corporation; we must ensure that the various measures described and promised in the plan will be realized.

The following describes our measures to promote education, research and social contribution aimed at becoming a perfectly comprehensive university.

Challenging the Entrenchment of the Education System

[Transforming our bachelor's education into true degree programs]

Our Mid-term Goals and Plans state that through a system of Degree Programs our students will acquire deep expertise and a broad education, allowing them to enhance their critical thinking skills and the ability to actively explore issues. We will institute tutorial education in which faculty and students routinely establish issues for discussion. We will also cultivate design thinking, enhance our internal quality assurance system for bachelor's education, and embark on a project to transform student housing into a complex for tutorial education and co-creation with society.

The educational system of our Schools and College has also become entrenched. The basic concept of the University of Tsukuba's education system had been the formation of Schools with degree-based education programs that cultivate a broad perspective across the humanities and sciences. They fully utilized the academic advantages of the separation of faculty organizations and education programs, which were introduced at our university for the first time in Japan. In 2007, 34 years after the university's opening, our faculty and education programs were reorganized into the current discipline-based Schools as a result of increased interest in graduate education. Immediately prior to this change, Research Institutes were abolished, and faculty members were reassigned to faculty organizations. In other words, the organization of the University of Tsukuba was no longer one that reflected its origin as a "new concept university," but became similar to that of other newly established universities. Although discipline-based bachelor's education has been effective in helping students acquire specialized skills, it does not offer the breadth of education that is needed today, with individual faculty members teaching what they desire, resulting in a large number of courses without much thought to the curriculum as a whole. Some faculty and staff members may say that the human resource development objectives, admission policies, curriculum policies and diploma policies of our Colleges have already been formulated. However, many of our Colleges offer more than one degree. We believe that our Colleges should be revitalized by reorganization into true degree programs that are created after careful selection of subject offerings and the active introduction of problem/project-based learning and tutorial education. Monitoring and program review are also necessary. Undergraduate Schools should not be a hodgepodge of Colleges. In accordance with the philosophy and policies of the undergraduate schools, we hope that each academic program will fully demonstrate their unique characteristics under the leadership of their deans.

[Enhancement of graduate degree programs]

In line with national universities' trend toward greater emphasis on graduate education, our university instituted a university-wide system in which faculty members became affiliated with doctoral graduate schools and programs in 2004. This weakened the separation of organizations for faculty and education programs that had existed since the university's founding. However, in 2011, we restored the separation of organizations for faculty and education programs. We also implemented the first university-wide transition to an educational system of degree programs in Japan in 2020, while reorganizing our eight graduate schools into three. This year, doctoral students who were admitted at the time of this reorganization will become the first class to graduate from this new system. We plan to further promote advanced and highly interdisciplinary graduate education by establishing a new university-wide creative and interdisciplinary graduate school.

It is important for both our country and university to increase the number of students entering doctoral programs from master's programs. To this end, financial support and career support are major issues that must be tackled. Last fiscal year, the university was awarded 31 fellowships (including 1.8 million yen for living expenses for each fellowship) to support doctoral students from the government's "University Fellowship Program for Creating Innovations in Science and Technology." Also, our "Trans-border Value Creation Human Resource Development Project," which focuses on co-creation among diverse students across academic disciplines, was selected by the Japan Science and Technology Agency for its "Program for Challenging Researchers in the Next Generation - Support Project for Doctoral Students." Annually, 351 doctoral students will receive support from this program, which will allow them to devote themselves to research. We received the third largest number of scholarships from this program among Japanese universities. In the future, MEXT's University Fund scheme will provide more support for doctoral students.

Since our doctoral programs are degree programs, they require a different way of thinking from conventional majors. Degree programs are designed to expand the career opportunities for graduates in various other sectors beyond that of research positions. In our Mid-term Goals and Plans, we stated that we would "develop cutting-edge educational programs for mid-career professionals who would lead the creation and growth of new businesses in the private sector and become top managers of companies and other organizations." We will further enhance the early degree completion program at the doctoral level and degree programs in collaboration with private and R&D corporations in the fields of life science and engineering (Collaborative Graduate School System, etc.). Our collaborative graduate school system looks promising for other disciplines as well. Our Mid-term Goals and Plans also include plans to create a new educational program for management based on mathematics, data science and AI at our graduate school for working professionals. We recently established the Headquarters for Interdisciplinary Education on Mathematics-Data Science-AI. The educational organizations for bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs will organically integrate mathematics, data science and AI education into their respective curricula at the levels of literacy, basic-applied and applied in cooperation with the Headquarters. In addition, our Mid-term Goals and Plans state that we will "reorganize the doctoral program in law to train researchers at the Graduate School of Business Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences."

Employment, academic advancement and graduation rates of bachelor's, master's (including professional degrees) and doctoral students (integrated doctoral programs) are key performance indicators for determining MEXT's operational grants to universities. Our university's bachelor's and master's programs score low in terms of employment and academic advancement rates: deviation score for our university is less than 50 among all 86 Japanese national universities. This is a very serious problem. Each educational program needs to reduce the number of graduating students whose career paths are undetermined. After graduation follow-up surveys on students' career path is necessary as stated in our Mid-term Goals and Plans. This follow-up should also contribute to building an alumni network.

[Review of undergraduate admissions and education systems]

Undergraduate admissions are a vital part of our education system. It is time for a fundamental review of this system. The Central Council for Education's report titled "Integrated Reform of High School Education, University Education, and University Admission Examinations for the Realization of High School-University Connections Appropriate for the New Era" (December 22, 2014) stressed the importance of academic assessment at the upper secondary school level using the High School Basic Achievement Test and university admission examinations, and through the individual selection of students by universities according to their admission policies. Since the main purpose of individual selection is to evaluate students for their fit with our academic policies, it is necessary to go back to the basics and rethink the evaluation of candidates based on their understanding of our education and research policies and their fit with our curricula. For our undergraduate programs, we conduct academic achievement examinations, examinations based on school recommendations, Admission Center entrance examinations, and special selection for foreign nationals. Methods of selection vary somewhat among these types of admissions procedures. Ideally, there should be no difference in the admission policies; we should consider whether using such different selection methods is truly appropriate. When a university changes its admissions policy, it is required to announce the change two years in advance. Considering the process of discussing and creating a system of institutional reform, fundamental admissions reform will require a span of several years, or even longer. In particular, faculty members in their 40s and younger must start thinking about this issue now, or admissions reform will take longer than a decade to implement. By moving away from the existing deviation score-dependent examinations through these reforms, we will be to admit the students that we truly seek. Our plans to establish a Malaysian branch campus can be viewed as an attempt to expose our three academic policies to a geographical region where we have no previous experience. We will continue our efforts to establish a Malaysian branch during the Fourth Mid-term Goals and Plans period.

I have begun to think about the entrenched 6-3-3-4 educational system in Japan. In the United States, students study medicine and law at the graduate level regardless of their undergraduate major. The medical school system is one where bachelor's degree graduates enroll in medical schools and receive medical education with a clinical focus of over four years. Therefore, medical schools are considered equivalent to professional graduate schools. The reason for this system is that there is more to learn in a physician training program than can be done in a four-year bachelor's education program. It is also difficult to determine aptitude for becoming a physician at the time of high school graduation. In addition, physician training programs are extremely busy; students will have difficulty finding time to develop an interest in and perspective on social issues. I believe that what I have stated, including the need for young people to learn a wide variety of things, applies to our other four-year higher education programs as well. The idea of merging bachelor's and master's programs to cultivate a broad range of knowledge and advanced expertise must have been discussed more than once in various fields. Many programs may be thinking of a 4 + 2-year curriculum, but what about the idea of a 2 + 4-year one? We are considering a 2-year higher education program for cultivating a broad range of liberal knowledge followed by a 4-year higher education program to nurture advanced knowledge and expertise.

This is not something that can be done immediately, as it would require reform of the academic system, that is, a change in the law. When rethinking the 6-3-3-4-year education system, it is possible to consider changes such as adopting elastic entrance examinations, a grade-skipping system, and integrated education in cooperation with our affiliated high schools. Our Mid-term Goals and Plans call for the establishment of a "pre-course completion and credit approval system," including online courses in cooperation with our affiliated high schools. Currently, it is possible for high school students to earn university credits as a non-degree student, and to use these credits toward their university degree. Each School and College should actively promote our university's academic system and education to not only the students of our affiliated high schools, but also to students nationwide. They should explore new ways for high school-university connection. Transforming higher education will power change in the entrenched systems of universities and society.

Strengthening Research Capabilities and Innovations in Research Support

[Improvement of research system]

Our university's mission is to create knowledge for resolving global issues and contributing to the development of the society of the future. National universities are expected to actively engage in the realization of Society 5.0 through digital transformation, promotion of next-generation healthcare, including countermeasures to the COVID-19 virus, carbon-neutral initiatives, and the realization of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In April of this year, the university will establish the Design the Future Organization to conduct research, disseminate information and develop strategies related to SDGs as well as carbon neutrality.

Our Research Center circulation system classifies research centers into three categories: R1 (world-class research centers), R2 (national-level research centers), and R3 (priority training research centers). Support is provided to each center based on its category. Every five years, centers are evaluated for recategorization, or abolishment based on their achievements. In order to promote the formation of world-class research centers and the creation of new research fields, we will establish a new category of centers termed RS (World-leading Research Centers). Centers of this category will promote joint use and joint research on a global stage. In addition, we plan to launch an academic center for research incubation. The Research Center for West Asian Civilization and the Tomonaga Center for the History of the Universe (Tomonaga Center) were born from this system.

We must accelerate international brain circulation by acquiring and fostering top researchers from Japan and abroad. To nurture young researchers, we will continue to promote our international tenure track system that was launched in 2013 to strengthen research capabilities. Through this system, young faculty members are given the opportunity to devote at least two years during their tenure-track period to joint research with leading overseas researchers. Furthermore, as part of the Top Global University Project, we have invited research units led by leading overseas researchers to establish their laboratories at our university (Invitation Program for Overseas Education and Research Units). To date a total of eight research units have been invited. This year, JSPS will launch the Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research, which combines the best aspects of the two programs mentioned above, as part of its Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research program.

We must also focus on improving the research environment at our university. In addition to maintaining and expanding research facilities through our requests for budgetary appropriations and other means, we must also promote the open use of facilities owned by individual researchers and organizations. The University of Tsukuba is currently making considerable efforts to share equipment not only within the university, but with external organizations such as TIA. I am happy to say that our university was selected for the Advanced Research Infrastructure Sharing Promotion Project (Core Facility Construction Support Program) in FY 2021 (in total 15 universities were selected in FYs 2020 and 2021). We will use this opportunity to launch the Organization for Open Facility Initiatives and firmly promote initiatives from this perspective.

We must increase the capabilities of technical staff as well as review their compensation and benefits scheme to increase research support. Last year, the 7th annual conference of RMAN-J (The Research Manager and Administrator Network Japan) was held in Tsukuba to share the challenges facing university research administrators (URAs). The meeting concluded that the issues facing this third job category of technical staff include job titles, career development and career circulation. We believe that our university should work toward drastic improvement of these issues. Furthermore, in order to efficiently utilize the entire university's knowledge and resources in terms of education, research, international activities and industry-university collaboration, we must actively promote feedback and opinions from all levels of the university including from students. In addition to URAs and UIAs (area commons), we are considering the deployment of UEAs (university education administrators) to each educational organization for close collaboration on development of education programs.

And most importantly, we must improve the research capabilities of each researcher. Among the performance indicators for allocation of operating expense funds by MEXT, the university ranks at the bottom among designated national university corporations in terms of the number of TOP 10% published academic papers per operating expense subsidy and the number of published research papers and the number and amount of scientific research grants obtained per full-time faculty member. These results have led to a reduction in our operating expense grants. The university must carefully consider the selection criteria for new faculty members as well as measures to increase the hours that researchers can dedicate to research. Regarding the former, we hold high expectations when hiring senior faculty members who have a record of great success, but when hiring young faculty members, we must be able to have faith that they can contribute to and lead our university for the next 30 years. In terms of the latter, the actual number of working hours of faculty members is steadily decreasing due in part to the impact of the government's work style reform measures. Each department must find ways they can reduce workload such as reducing the number of subjects taught, outsourcing admissions work, or limiting the number of meetings, and transferring full discretion over department matters to the department head rather than to committees.

[Promotion of needs-driven joint industry-academia joint research]

Aiming to boost co-created innovation for social change, we are actively promoting needs-driven industry-academia research collaboration with industry and government. We are also undertaking research for practical applications that can contribute to the resolution of local and global social issues. Since the establishment of our Headquarters for International Industry-University Collaboration in 2014, we have more than doubled the amount of funds from industry-academia joint research. Joint research with industry and university-launched ventures are seen as seed-driven in Japan. However, it is necessary to promote needs-driven industry-academia joint research that is based on the needs of companies and society. To this end, we will invite corporate R&D laboratories to our university and establish Business-to-Academia laboratories that make use of our human resources, facilities and equipment. As I have previously noted, the number of citations per paper at top universities in the U.S. and U.K. is in the order of industry-academia co-authored papers, international co-authored papers, domestic co-authored papers, internally co-authored papers and single-authored papers. The high number of citations received by industry-academia co-authored papers is an indication that the paper addresses issues important to society. I have also pointed out that in Europe and the U.S. industry-university joint research starts with basic research which then attracts investment and donations from companies and other sources. We will launch a project to build the IMAGINE THE FUTURE. Forum (ITF. Forum, tentative name) as a space to promote needs-driven, industry-academia joint research. In addition, we will establish the Tsukuba Twin Spark Corporation (tentative name), a wholly owned external corporation, which will operate the ITF. Forum.

Furthermore, last year our university was selected by MEXT for its Strategic Fostering of World-Class Researchers project aimed at human resource development in science and technology. We will launch TriStar, the Top Runner Development Program Engaging Universities, National Labs, and Companies which will be managed by our Support Office for the Development of Young Human Resources. This program will make full use of the strengths of Tsukuba Science City, the top science and technology hub in Japan, to develop and implement a world-class researcher training program that will transcend the barriers between the humanities and sciences through collaboration among universities, national institutes and companies.

Strengthening Engagement

Engagement is not about the university unilaterally promising something or having something promised unilaterally to the university. It is about the mutual contribution by both the university and its diverse stakeholders. The geographical home of our university is Tsukuba City and Ibaraki Prefecture. The university recognizes its great responsibility to the region in terms of education, medical care, industry and culture. At the same time, we also believe that the university should fulfill its mission not only to our home region, but also to the international community to which we all belong.

[Social connections]

The University of Tsukuba Hospital, while working in close connection with the community of Tsukuba City and Ibaraki Prefecture, promotes advanced medical research. It is the only hospital in the prefecture designated for advanced medical care. Last year, the hospital treated a total of approximately 1,400 patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 infections. It is also actively involved in workplace vaccinations. The hospital aims to create a center for state-of-the-art medical research and development, including the application of next-generation particle therapy, and to become a place for co-creation and implementation of cutting-edge medical research. To this end, the hospital will build an R&D infrastructure based on data science and AI. We must promote clinical research centered at the Tsukuba Clinical Research and Development Organization (T-CReDO) of the University of Tsukuba Clinical Research & Development Organization, and obtain accreditation as a core clinical research hospital. This would greatly enhance vaccine development and drug discovery research. The university has set its sights also on contributing to community medicine with the Community Medical Education Center.

The mission of our affiliated schools is to collaborate with the university and promote research on school education. They are tasked also with disseminating the results of their research to elementary, secondary and special education schools in their local communities and nationwide. This includes creating an environment and system for inclusive education from the standpoint of students, teachers and staff. We respectfully look forward to their efforts. We will work to create high-school-university connections by establishing the aforementioned course registration and credit accreditation systems and by establishing a new management system to implement inclusive education.

[Collaboration with Tsukuba Science City]

In collaboration with our research institutes, local governments and companies in Tsukuba Science City, our university has promoted education and research to resolve global issues relating to SDGs and green recovery. One of the major challenges for the future is to link the results to social implementation. Tsukuba has been one of the major destinations for relocation from Tokyo as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This increase may be partly due to today's knowledge-based economy and society and the desire for decentralization away from Tokyo. It is also important to promote the development of Tsukuba city where residents can benefit from innovation while being closely connected to the international community. Tsukuba is the only city in Japan to participate in the High Level Forum, an international conference where research institutes, universities and companies located in science and technology cities around the world gather. We hope to contribute to the development of Tsukuba City into a platform for open innovation and experimental demonstrations. Tsukuba was designated as an International Strategic Zone in 2011. It is now aiming to become a model for the city of the future with its New Mobility Promotion Project. Tsukuba City beat out strong competitors and was designated as a Super City-type Special National Strategic Zone by the Advisory Council on Special National Strategic Zones (chaired by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida) at the end of last fiscal year. The Super City concept is an initiative to promote the use of data science and AI, as well as regulatory and institutional reforms for this purpose, to implement a variety of cutting-edge services in local communities for a human-centered future society. The University of Tsukuba will contribute to the realization of this concept through the Tsukuba Science City Laboratory with the participation of the R&D Center for Strategic Frontiers of MIRAI in Policy and Technology Social Planning.

[International exchange in the with-COVID-19 era]

One of the banners of our Third Mid-term Goals and Plans is to promote internationalization. We will continue to develop activities with universities, research institutions, companies and local governments around the world through our Campus-in-Campus (CiC) initiative and overseas offices by promoting internationally compatible education and world-class research. We will continue to expand educational programs that require students to study abroad, expand programs that support study aboard, and globally disseminate educational and research content. In particular, we must focus on recruiting excellent foreign students not only from foreign universities but also through outreach to secondary education institutions, and by expanding research funding from overseas. All members of the university community should recognize the importance of developing future leaders who can play an active role in academia and industry in Japan and abroad by improving the 365体育投注 communication skills of Japanese students, as well as the Japanese communication skills of foreign students. We need to strengthen our Center for Education of Global Communication and transform it into a core national center for Japanese language and Japanese affairs education.

COVID-19 has led to strict restrictions on international travel for the past two years. The phased expansion of international student arrivals planned for the fall of 2021 was aborted when border control measures were re-enforced due to the spread of the omicron strain. We expect that border control measures will be relaxed in stages in the future and look forward to the arrival of international students. Meanwhile, we have become accustomed to using online tools for communication and expect to take full advantage of these in the future. This year, the pilot project for the Japan Virtual Campus (JV-Campus), a higher education platform for distributing on-demand classes delivered in Japanese or 365体育投注 by Japanese public and private universities will begin operations. This project is an initiative of MEXT that was based on our Course Jukebox. Our Bureau of Global Initiatives serves as the secretariat for this project in cooperation with the Department of Educational Promotion.

The University of Tsukuba and other Japanese universities have been slow in exporting their education systems. We are participating, however, in the Vietnam-Japan University, Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, and Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology, which are sponsored by the Japanese and their respective governments. We are also supporting a Turkmenistan and an Uzbekistan university at the request of their respective governments. We are grateful to the faculty and staff involved in these activities. With the establishment of a Malaysian branch, our university will be the first university in Japan to offer a Japanese (the University of Tsukuba) degree. We are continuing our efforts toward the realization of the branch and are grateful for the cooperation we have received from both inside and outside of Japan, and especially from the many graduates of our university who are living in the region and are continuing to provide valuable insights to the needs of the region.

Transformation into a university as a management entity

[From operations administration to true management and governance]

The future composition of the university's faculty and staff, particularly the composition of faculty, is worrisome. Specifically, there is a lack of proper balance in terms of gender and age distribution. Although the core portion of our operating subsidy has been considerably reduced this fiscal year, personnel expenses are at their previous level or even higher than before. In order to ensure that our departmental and university plans can be carried out we need to adopt a new personnel appointment system for optimizing allocation through the Personnel Planning Committee and the Appointment Subcommittee which are composed mainly of the heads of our faculty organizations (departments and priority research centers). The new system also includes a measure to shorten the five-year tenure track period and to grant tenure to outstanding young researchers. It is estimated that our cyclical system of personnel points will enable the employment of a cumulative total of 900 young researchers by 2040. We also ask for your understanding of affirmative action for the appointment of women.

In recent years, the National University Corporation Law, the School Education Law, and the Standards for the Establishment of Universities have been revised. For example, the duties of vice president (Article 92, Paragraph 4 of the School Education Law) have been revised from "assist the president in his/her duties" to "assist the president and take charge of school affairs as ordered" (Law Partially Amending the School Education Law and National University Corporation Law [Law No. 88, 2014] and related ministerial ordinances). Our university is the birthplace of the system of university vice presidents in Japan. We believe that our vice presidents have been long assigned the newly revised duties. The former statutory duties of the vice presidents are performed currently by the executive officers of the university, including our deans. The duties of administrative staff (Article 41 of the Standards for the Establishment of Universities) were revised from "handling administrative duties" to "carrying out administrative duties" (Ministerial Ordinance Partially Revising the Standards for the Establishment of Universities [MEXT Ordinance No. 17 of 2017]). The revision was made in recognition that as university operations are becoming increasingly complex, administrative organizations need to play a more active role in improving university management by utilizing the comprehensive capabilities of administrators to their full potential to strengthen the overall functions of universities. Therefore, it was also added that while taking into consideration the appropriate division of roles between faculty members and administrative staff, a system that ensures cooperation between the two when caring out their duties should be ensured (Article 2-3 of the Standards for the Establishment of Universities). At our university, collaboration among faculty members and administrative staff is becoming more widespread. The establishment of a joint committee of faculty members and administrative staff chaired by administrators is long overdue.

It is an entrenched understanding that university employees are faculty members and staff. However, there are many other types of employees whose roles and work styles differ from those of conventional employees. Their job categories are extremely diverse, including not only technical officials, but also URAs, area commons, coordinators, trainers, fundraisers, and research engineers, a job category that we will establish in the near future. As mentioned above, the 7th annual conference of RMAN-J was held at our university last year to discuss issues related to URAs. The university hopes to contribute to the creation of clear career paths for each position by clarifying their roles, thereby establishing a third job category in our Employee Work Regulations. We intend to lead this effort nationwide.

[From accounting to finance]

The university budget does not depend solely on operating grants from the government. For example, operating grants for last fiscal year were about 36 billion yen, but our total budget was 106 billion yen. The university's total operating expenses have grown at an average annual growth rate of slightly less than 3% over the past 10 years, while the operating grants from the government have shrunk. This is the second or third highest growth rate among designated national university corporations. Incidentally, the budget for the University of Tsukuba's operating subsidy in FY2022 was 35.6 billion yen, a decrease of 0.3 billion yen from the previous year. The major reason for the large decrease in the budget was MEXT's focus on performance indicators in their allocation of core operating expenses. This is determined by ranking university performance using quantitative indicators related to education, research and management. We were ranked particularly low in terms of research-related indicators.

With social security costs steadily increasing and the population of 18-year-olds decreasing at the same time, we must assume that government funds will steadily decrease. Competitive funds and research funds from industry and local governments are vital, but their use is limited and at times requires the use of university funds in tandem. One important point about obtaining external funding is the investment in education. It is harder for companies to perceive the benefits of investments in education compared to those for research, which is the main reason why investments in education are low. It is also an entrenched view that investment in education is impossible. We plan to build the Future Society Design Building (tentative name) near our student housing. I think the symbolic meaning of the building might be more clearly expressed if it were a tower rather than a building. It will be a place where students can experience society's investment in their education and can learn about the reality of what they will face after graduation.

Our proposal for becoming a Designated National University Corporation outlines a variety of measures for deregulating facilities and tax regulations to increase the efficiency of establishing B2A research institutes. Venture ecosystems support everything needed by entrepreneurs from entrepreneurial education to IPOs or M&A assistance. Funds for ventures launched by our university have reached several billion yen per year. Successful ventures are also beginning to return funds to our university. Providing further opportunities for students and faculty is key. The establishment of a wholly-owned external corporation was finally approved at the end of last fiscal year. We will continue to make great use of this corporation. Preparations to establish our own funds are also well underway and should be completed by the end of this fiscal year. We are also considering the effective use of our land and facilities, especially that of our Tokyo Campus. Also, it is time to make full use of the campuses of our attached affiliated schools and faculty housing. It may also be possible to strengthen cooperation with neighboring national university-affiliated schools.

Preparations are underway for the issuance of our university bonds. The bonds are important not only for the funds raised, but also to strengthen our engagement with society. The entrenched idea that students and faculty are the only stakeholders of universities is a thing of the past. There are many other stakeholders, including parents, alumni, prospective students, corporations and industries, donors, investors, national and local governments, academia, local community, the public at large and the international community. The relationship between these stakeholders and the university is not uniform. We will build engagement by disseminating information to each stakeholder. This is precisely the significance of issuing university bonds. We decided to obtain credit ratings to offer an objective assessment of the soundness of our finances, governance and management for funding raising. We have recently received a rating of AAA from Japan Credit Rating Agency, Ltd. and AA+ from Rating and Investment Information, Inc.

In addition to the measures mentioned above, we are actively considering applying for the 10-trillion yen "University Fund for Realization of World-Class Research Universities" to be established by the Japan Science and Technology Agency. In order to win this fund, we must be recognized as a "Research University of International Excellence" (tentative name). The requirements for this include having an autonomous and responsible governance structure and internationally outstanding research performance. Even more important are demonstrating our unique contribution to education, research and engagement with society. Universities that are selected based on comprehensive review of their application will be able to break through entrenchment and offer a new vision for higher education.

Conducting conventional financial management is no longer viable. We must begin our own efforts to change our accounting (reporting) system into one similar to those used by corporations, or at least into a form that is generally understandable to the public. In addition, it is essential to have a finance department that is headed by a Chief Financial Officer who will develop and manage endowments. This fiscal year, as the first step in the transformation from managing accounting to finance, we will establish a new section within the Department of Finance and Accounting that will be responsible for fund procurement and management.

[Establishment of the Bureau of Public Relations and the Bureau of Strategic Management]

When our university opened as a "new concept university," an organizational structure to ensure cohesion of the entire university was established. However, the larger any organization becomes, the more bureaucratic it becomes. Unfortunately, the adverse effects of fixed vertical divisions between departments can be seen at our university as well. The university had separate offices for public relations and public relations strategy. The Office of Public Relations was in charge of disseminating information provided by each organization, while the Office of Public Relations Strategy analyzed public relations issues and formulated public relations strategies. Universities of the future, as true management entities, are expected to build relationships based on trust with stakeholders through engagement. Therefore, in April of this year, we will establish the Bureau of Public Relations to conduct centralized public relations with a consistent strategy for disseminating information to different stakeholders for different purposes, such as student recruitment, obtaining joint research funds and donations, and fostering school spirit. The Bureau will also provide information to internal stakeholders of the university: faculty, staff, students and other members. Consideration will also be given to recruiting prominent alumni to assist in publicizing and promoting the university. A bureau is an organizational entity that is positioned between "offices," which in most cases are committees, and "departments" and "divisions" which in our university's case are closely related to MEXT's bureaus in terms of their operations. Incidentally, the Athletic Department's status is that of a bureau. It is earnestly working to reform the nature of school sports not only at universities but also at the elementary and secondary school levels. For its efforts, it won the Pioneer Award at the INNOVATION LEAGUE 2021 sponsored by the Sports Agency.

Universities have vast amounts of data related to education, research, finance, human resources, but this data is not thoroughly used across departmental walls. It is necessary to analyze the numerous data across the university for use in decision-making at the university level. Institutional research (IR) is important for this purpose. We are planning to launch an integrated IR organization (tentative name) to enhance teaching, research, finance, public relations and marketing. In April of this year, the Bureau of Strategic Management will be established under the direct control of the university president to formulate medium to long-term strategic management. This will promote evidence-based university management. This bureau is the culmination of our preparatory efforts that have continued since the University Strategy Preparation Office was established in 2015, which was later transformed into the Office of University Strategy and then into the Office of University Management Reform in 2018. The bureau will have data analysts, who will be the brain behind our efforts to prepare for an unpredictable future and the coming paradigm shift in higher education and to be the driving force of change.

From the 150th anniversary of our inception and the 50th anniversary of the university's founding to the next 50 years

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the inception of our university, whose roots began with the Normal School, the first national institution of higher education created by the then newly established Meiji government. After several transformations (into the Tokyo Higher Normal School, the Tokyo University of Literature and Science, and the Tokyo University of Education), our university was established as the University of Tsukuba in 1973. Over the past 150 years, our university has always played a leading role in ushering in a new era.

Times are constantly changing. Take, for example, the situation of for-profit companies. If they do not address ESG issues (environment, social, governance), they will be evaluated poorly by investors. No matter how profitable a company may be, it cannot survive in the long term if it cannot fulfill its societal obligations. Today's corporate culture is a world away from the days when pollution and other problems, and society's responsibility to address these issues, were starting to receive attention. We must be keenly aware that we are in the midst of change.

The changes we face today are drastic. One example is the Russian military invasion of Ukraine. The change of the status quo by force is a clear violation of international law, threatens the peace and security of the international community and must not be tolerated. We must reaffirm the importance of universal values such as freedom, democracy, respect for fundamental human rights and the rule of law. We must recognize the importance of working together to resolve various issues to ensure peace, security, and stable growth. What, then, should the university do?

In the preamble to our Mid-term Goals and Plans, we declare, "As an engine for social change, we will work with partners who share the ideal of academic freedom to create new academic fields and establish a transnational educational model, thereby contributing to not only the Japanese society, but to the world. Through this social role, academia aims to create GLOBAL TRUST that will serve as the foundation for the society of the future." We are convinced that our research and educational activities will serve as an engine for social change to transform the entrenched values of society.

This Policy Statement concerns the direction we will take in the future. Not all can be accomplished in the six years of the Fourth Mid-term Goals and Plans period. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the university. Faculty and staff, let's work together to celebrate this milestone. This year is the chance to start preparing for the next 50 years. I am confident that together, we can continue to tackle the challenges we face.